"Chugach in the Autumn Rain" -- Here is a typical scene of a mountainside in Alaska's Chugach Mountain backcountry. The trees are Hemlock, which remain dwarfed this high up, rarely getting more than 10 feet tall, kept low to the ground by wind and snow loads. I have a special fondness for them, because as a child I could easily walk under their protective canopy, and imagine whole worlds of cubby holes to explore. At lower elevations nearby, the very same species grow to 50 ft or so. Colored by various forms of lichen, the rocks are black with variegated pastel patches. Then white lichen and moss cover most of the soil, with tufts of grass. Of course, this time of year, the mountains are accumulating their ever-deepening frosting of snow. As this photo was taken, it was raining at this elevation, and snowing just a bit higher up. If you zoom in, you can see beads of rainwater hanging on the grass.